Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (PFRPG) puts you in the role of a brave adventurer fighting to survive in a world beset by magic and evil. Will you cut your way through monster-filled ruins and cities rife with political intrigue to emerge as a famous hero laden with fabulous treasure, or will you fall victim to treacherous traps and fiendish monsters in a forgotten dungeon? Your fate is yours to decide with this giant Core Rulebook that provides everything a player needs to set out on a life of adventure and excitement! This imaginative tabletop game builds upon more than 10 years of system development and an open playtest involving more than 50,000 gamers to create a cutting-edge RPG experience that brings the all-time best-selling set of fantasy rules into the new millennium. Announcement On March 18, 2008 Paizo Publishing made a monumental announcement. Amid the speculation and community division caused by the impending release of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition by Wizards of the Coast and the delayed announcement of the Game System License (GSL), Paizo took a stand and committed to continue publishing adventures under the existing Open Gaming License (OGL). Not only would Paizo be continuing in a path differing from that of Wizards of the Coast (and possibly the whole tabletop gaming industry), they would also revolutionize it. As part of the company's commitment to the 3.5 rules set, they unveiled the Pathfinder RPG, an updated, expanded core game to replace the official Dungeons & Dragons books after they have gone out of print upon the release of 4th Edition in June, 2008. Additionally, in the spirit of Open Gaming, the system would undergo the largest public playtest in RPG history, spanning over eighteen months and open to literally anyone who was willing to download the files from Paizo's website. The initial Alpha release, in PDF format is currently being released in three iterations (outlined below). Debuting at GenCon 2008, the softcover Beta release will also be available as a free PDF download from Paizo, allowing anyone to contribute to the playtest with a complete set of the rules. August 2009 will see the official release of the final rules set for the Pathfinder RPG in a hardcover book. At this time, all Paizo products will be formatted for the new rules. All adventures and supplements until August 2009 will continue with the 3.5 rules. A further announcement was made on May 12, 2008 that famed RPG designer Monte Cook had joined the development team as a rules consultant. Cook, one of the co-designers of the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition rules, and author of the 3.5 DMG and PHB''as well as the ''Ptolus™ campaign setting and the recent Book of Experimental Might, would not be an active member of the design team, but would act as an adviser for the design team. With his wealth of knowledge and experience with the original 3.5 system, Monte's involvement provides an unparalleled opportunity for Paizo, and re-excited the fans of the the Pathfinder RPG. Design and Playtest Full article: Pathfinder RPG playtest Jason Bulmahn, Lead Designer for Paizo's Pathfinder brand, began work on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game in October 2007. Because of the flaws in the 3.5 rules set were now being acknowledged by both fans and the developers at Wizards of the Coast, Jason set out to develop a revised version of the existing rules available under the OGL to fix these problems and improve play without starting from scratch and negating three decades of Dungeons & Dragons history. Bulmahn kept several goals in mind when creating the Pathfinder RPG to maintain a focus in the daunting task. Release The final release of the Pathfinder RPG is a 576-page hardcover book released August 13, 2009 at GenCon Indy. This volume is designed to support all future Paizo adventure paths and modules and can be used as a stand-alone replacement for the out-of-print core books by Wizards of the Coast, laying a foundation for OGL-based gaming for decades to come. Prior to the release of the final rules, Paizo released two additional "previews" of the new rules system. Because no one can run the game with just the PC and GM rules, the Bonus Bestiary was released in June 2009. This would allow new players and GMs to start playing the game on day one after the rules were made available at GenCon. The following month, July, saw the release of some of the player-oriented material in the new rules set in Qadira, Gateway to the East, written by Brian Cortijo. This Companion marks the first Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting-specific material released to the general public. The core monster book, Pathfinder Bestiary was released in October 2009. Success After the monumental success of the Beta playtesting process, which included over 50,000 unique downloads from Paizo.com, it was no surprise that demand was high for the final rules. On August 3, 2009, a full ten days before the offical release of the Core Rulebook at GenCon, Paizo announced that all copies of the first printing of the book in the distribution channel were sold out. Impressive in its own right to have a book sell out in pre-order, the fact that this was the largest print run of any book in the company's seven year history by fivefold makes the accomplishment all the more stunning. References External Links * Pathfinder Reference Document Category:Product lines